Author(s): P. R. Zekavat; M. Jamali
Linked Author(s): Mirmosadegh Jamali
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: Behavior of buoyant contaminant in vegetated canopies is influenced by vegetation characteristics. A laboratory lock-exchange experiment was designed to study longitudinal dispersion of floating immiscible contaminant in canopies. Experiments were conducted for stem-Reynolds numbers below 200, leading to a laminar regime for stem wake. Stem density ranged between 1.5% and 6%. The longitudinal dispersion coefficientxK was estimated by measuring time series of variance of contaminant cloud along the canopy. Observation of tracer transport in laboratory matches well theoretical predictions for miscible contaminants. For all vegetation densities, longitudinal dispersion coefficient decreases with Reynolds number. However, the variation is significant only for dense vegetations. It seems dispersion due to velocity reduction behind each stem dominates total dispersion in laminar stem-wake regime with vegetation density in the range of 1.5 to 6.
Year: 2009